Thursday, June 10, 2010

Is the Pac-10 exclusion of Baylor motivated by religious animus?

Baylor has tried to play politics to usurp Colorado and be included in the Big 12 exodus to the Pac-10. I don’t think the Bears will succeed.

First, the Pac-10 is partial to Colorado. Always has been. The Pac-10 seems to sense a kindred spirit in the Buffs. Boulder is sort of Berkeley East; a funky, liberal bastion. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

And no way is Baylor attractive to the Pac-10. The Pac-10 always has been allergic to Brigham Young, another church-based school. Baylor is the nation’s largest Baptist university. A Baptist friend of mine says Baylor actually is quite liberal in Baptist eyes, but I don’t think that’s a concept Berkeley recognizes, liberal Baptist.

And then there is Chip Brown's report at Orangebloods: "One top source close to the possible merger between the Pac-10 and six Big 12 schools said some schools in the Pac-10, including California-Berkeley, have a real issue with adding an institution with religious ties like Baylor to the conference.” (emphasis added)

Apparently, even “diversity” has its limits.

If the Pac-10 were a private club on Madison and 38th with the membership rule “no Jews allowed,” we would need no tutoring to see the bigotry and condemn it swiftly.

Excluding Baylor or BYU from the Pac-10 because of its “religious ties” is morally indistinguishable from excluding Jews from the private club, or, for that matter, excluding Baptists and Mormons from attending Cal sporting events. The fact that some Berkeley official can say this with no pause or nuance reveals how deeply entrenched, accepted, and celebrated this irrational bigotry is in the academic enclaves in which this cast of mind is formed.